If this is the wrong Forum please move Mods.

So Mr Sunak, our Chancellor ( the geezer dealing with Govt finance ) is considering increasing APD - again - in pursuit of the Net Zero project. UK APD is the highest in Europe, if not the world and set to go higher.

A quick check on some flights brought up an anomaly: London to SFO is pretty much the same distance as London to Vladivostok: as the APD charge is calculated from capital city to capital city the charge to SFO for a C class seat is currently £180 / $240 ( rising to £185 in April 22 ) whereas to VVO it is £26 as Moscow falls within the 2000mile band.

What is worse that the APD from Dublin to SFO is € 7.83 / $9.07.

A few years ago I did some research whilst drafting a speech for a colleague to deliver to the Scottish National Party conference in Edinburgh on the effect of APD on Scottish tourism: I found that for Edinburgh airport alone the loss to the economy due to APD was close on £600 million per year.

My question, then, is in 2 parts: would an increase in APD in the UK deter you from flying directly to / from the UK and in view of the COP26 meeting coming up should APD be standardised globally ?